Former Malawi Minister of Information Henry Mussa says a government-owned genset, which he is accused of stealing, was dropped at his house without his knowledge.
Mussa and former Director of Information in the Ministry of Information Gideon Munthali are being accused of stealing a generator and nine computers which were donated to the Ministry of Information by Malawi Communications Regulatory Aut0rity (MACRA) in 2019.
The two were found with a case to answer and Mussa testified in court this morning.
According to Mussa, during the time the items were donated to the ministry he was tied up with both office work and the 2019 general elections campaign.
He added that he was later informed by one of the workers at his house that a generator was dropped at the house by Munthali but he was not informed by Munthali himself.
“I only remembered about the genset issue when I was called by Police, asking me the whereabouts of the genset that was supposed to be a government asset,” he said.
He added that if he wanted a generator, he could have requested MACRA to buy one for him since he was MACRA’s line minister at the time.
Mussa’s claim contradicts testimony which Munthali presented in the Lilongwe Chief Resident Magistrate’s court in August this year.
According to Munthali, he received 10 computers and three generators from MACRA on May 2, 2019. He then informed Ministry officials through a WhatsApp forum the same day.
Munthali added that Mussa kept on asking about the items and was also pushing him to make sure that the items were not distributed. He added that the former minister wanted him to deliver the items at his (Mussa’s) place.
Munthali said he delivered nine computers and one generator to Mussa at his Area 11 house on June 19. The other two generators were delivered to the ministry’s offices in Mzuzu and Lilongwe
Hearing of the case matter has since been adjourned to 12 November.
